Well, it's been a week already since we saw Jane Siberry at the Iron Horse in Northampton, MA, and this is the first chance I've had to sit down and write something about it. Fortunately (depending on your point of view ;), there hasn't been much talk of her fledgling tour in these pages, so hopefully I won't be too repetitive.
First of all, let me make it perfectly clear that the weather SUCKED. It rained small domesticated animals all day, and I drove from Boonton to White Plains, where we met my friend the pseudo-ectophile Shura up at the train, then continued on to pick up Tamar and her SO Graham in New Haven before heading up to Western MA, where we dropped Shura off at her parentals' house before finally heading back to Noho (I'll leave out the bit where my brand new car, in my possession three weeks to the day, got rear-ended at a stop- light in Hadley -- I don't think Tamar and Graham will ever let me drive them again :P), where we were only an hour late meeting Jeff Wasilko out in front of the Iron Horse. This left little time for browsing around town before the doors opened, but the rain made that a distasteful option anyways. We ended up at a little Italian pastry cafe across the street which served $1 vats of tea (Earl Grey. Hot.) and great fattening food, then dashed over to huddle in the recessed doorway of the Iron Horse waiting for them to let us in.
When we had first met Jeff, Jane and her band were doing their sound check, and we had a perfect view from the doorway. A few minutes after we got into line Jane came out of the Iron Horse (presumably on her way to dinner) and greeted us as she went by. I was wearing my When I Was A Boy tour T-Shirt, and as she passed me she noticed it, stopped, pointed to it, and said to me, "Oh! You have one of those!" Then, concerned: "How's it wearing? Is it washing well?" Dumbfounded, I stammered, "Great -- it hasn't shrunk or anything -- um, I don't wear it much." She smiled and went on her merry way. Only Jane would be concerned about the welfare of her souvenir T-shirts. :>
We were among the first through the door, and since we had a large group we were either assured of a great table or doomed to be stuck in back of the balcony. Fortunately, the former option prevailed, and we were seated at a table pushed up right at the stage, so close that we had to be worried about Jane spitting on us. :) Unfortunately the new ownership of the Iron Horse hasn't quite gotten the kitchen figured out yet, so we ended up not getting our dinner until after the band had started to play. It was weird to be stuffing our faces not five feet in front of Jane as she sang, but I don't think she was paying much attention to us at the time.
The set was magical, mesmerizing, and way too short. Not only was there a fair amount of musical improvisation, but Jane did her share of vocal improv as well. She directed the band with her hand movements and, sometimes, by turning to look at them and nodding or pointing. It was immediately apparent that her band is a bunch of amazing musicians. Not as apparent, but a mid-set revelation, was the identity of her drummer: Dean Sharpe! Hey, that's Happy's drummer! (Oh, and Jeff -- he was with her for all of her BTC shows, not just at the Middle East -- he had hair at Joyous Lake, which is probably why we didn't recognize him. :)
The musical content: all of Maria (except, alas, "Oh My My"), plus some jazzy numbers interspersed with Broadway standards and assorted other of Jane's favorite songs, including a hilarious rendition of "Girl from Ipanema" that turned into a birthday ode to someone in the audience named Vickie. It was amazing how well these old songs blended in seamlessly with Jane's own, and also how well Jane blended her own songs together, playing with them, almost rewriting them as she went along. Most notable was "My Mother Is Not The White Dove", which contained almost none of the original lyrics and little of the original musical accompaniment, neither of which mattered. The only downside was Jane's voice, which was rather hoarse, due to a slight cold she'd been battling that week. She still sounded great, though.
The show was so good, Jeff and woj and I decided to stick around for the second one. :) This time we sat up on the second level on the left-hand side of the stage, which was actually better since we didn't have to crane our necks to see. After the first show I said hello to Dean Sharpe, who was really psyched to see a bunch of Happy fans who were also into Jane's music. He'd told Jeff how he got the job with Jane: he's been a huge Jane-fan for years, and he heard she was looking for a drummer and called her up. Pretty cool. :) He's really, really good.
As Dean said after the second show was over, if the first show was the musical show, the second one was the comedy hour. :) Jane was *really* hoarse, but it didn't really matter. The set was rearranged, lyrics were going out the window, Jane was a lot more chatty and outgoing (not to mention hysterically funny), and even cracked up the guys in the band on several occasions. I confess that we helped a little bit -- at one point Booker White, the bassist came in too early on a backing vocal, and the look on his face afterwards got Jeff, woj and I in stitches. A couple songs later Jane looked our way and asked, "What was so funny back there?" We explained what had happened, and Jane was confused because she hadn't heard him come in early in the first place, but then she got it and thought it was pretty funny too, especially after Booker reenacted his reaction for her. :) (When Jane asked if anyone had any questions, I wanted to ask if I could have some of whatever she had had in between shows, but refrained.)
Basically, folks, if she's coming to your area, do it. Don't even think twice, drive as far as you have to go, but DON'T MISS THIS TOUR!!! You're guaranteed to have a good time. Plus, if you're lukewarm about Maria, the live show will definitely turn you around.
Gee, in case you couldn't tell, we enjoyed it. Hopefully the rest of you will have a good time, too. :)
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